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Fremantle Dockers Case Study

By Anonymous (not verified)Sat, 04/04/2015 - 20:25

Apr 4, 2015

Mitel puts the Fremantle Dockers ahead of the game by enabling higher efficiencies and enhanced member services.

CHALLENGE:

The sports club was using an aging PABX system that did not offer visibility on call quality or provide any customer service or productivity-boosting features. The club needed a modern unified communications system to help improve its member experience.

SOLUTION:

BENEFITS:

Ability to handle higher call volume

Scalability at little additional cost

Free interstate calls between offices

Email integration with Microsoft® Outlook

Peak call periods tax system

The Fremantle Dockers is one of the most strongly supported clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). During the peak membership renewal period, the club receives hundreds of calls daily, which are all fielded by an eight-person call center.

Gain better insight into call status

With 40,000 members and 500 corporate partners, communications are critical for the Fremantle Dockers, particularly during its busy member renewal campaign and the six months outside the formal football season when day-today operations and planning are underway.

But due to an aging PBX system that offered poor visibility across Fremantle’s telephone service, the club had little insight into the status of calls, system bottlenecks, or service needs. It needed a communications system that could boost the quality of its customers’ experience, and improve its off-field performance.

“The first point of contact that a member or prospective member has with the club is very often by telephone. Our aim is to provide users from both sides of our telephone assets with a consistent, positive experience that enhances our football brand,” says Fremantle’s IT Manager Minh Tran. “It was increasingly difficult to manage the five-person call center, which expands to eight members during membership renewal. Customer relationship management was not at the standard we wanted.”

In addition, the cost and time involved in maintaining the old system was no longer making fiscal sense. “The decision to upgrade became self evident,” continues Tran. “The club needed a telephony solution that could drive internal efficiencies and contribute toward improved member service. We knew the financial benefits would flow from there.”

One of the main criteria for selecting a new communications system was the ability to easily connect its head office in Fremantle with its Melbourne office. The club also wanted to ensure that the new system could be deployed with as little disruption to operations as possible. Tran was interested in a flexible IP-based communication system that met current needs but would also scale to future requirements without the club incurring major additional hardware and software costs.

Mitel ease of use and management simplicity score the winning goal

During the RFP process, Mitel demonstrated its easy-to-use features and the management simplicity of the highly reliable distributed architecture. These benefits gave the Mitel UC solution an edge over its competitors, as Tran was impressed by the versatility of Mitel and its compatibility with Fremantle’s existing networks.

Trouble-free install

“The entire system switch-over was completed over a weekend,” says Tran. “The Mitel install proved trouble-free with no disruptions to club operations. There was no need for extensive training as Mitel IP telephony is very intuitive and easy to use.”

Commenting on the deployment, Mark Dutton, managing director of IT specialists Datamerge, which initiated the deployment, says Mitel provided a good “fit” for the needs of the Fremantle Club.

“THE SHORETEL INSTALL PROVED TROUBLE-FREE WITH NO DISRUPTIONS TO CLUB OPERATIONS. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR EXTENSIVE TRAINING AS SHORETEL IP TELEPHONY IS VERY INTUITIVE AND EASY TO USE.”

Minh Tran, IT Manager
Fremantle Dockers

“The simple-to-install-and-use approach adopted by Mitel not only covers handsets, switches, and conference bridges, it also applies to accessories, software, and maintenance. Effectively, Mitel enables system integrators to accomplish more using fewer resources and less time,” explains Dutton.

Fremantle’s 70 staff members were quick to learn and manage the many features of Mitel Communicator, including desktop calling in just one click, instant access to online phone directories, call forwarding, and call recording, all of which resulted in an almost instantaneous lift in efficiency and customer service.

Furthermore, the Mitel Hunt Group feature means that calls can now be answered by anyone at its Fremantle headquarters. When a call is answered, the Mitel UC system lets it be transferred to any nominated location, including home or mobiles, so staff can work from different areas at the club, can take or reassign incoming calls to colleagues, route them to voicemail, or return them to the call center.

Mitel provides high visibility across the system

The Mitel UC system lets administrators keep track of conversations and voicemails for future reference and call monitoring. “The visibility across the system provides us with data to improve operations performance. We are now able to better plan staffing for critical periods, identify inquiry areas that may need additional resourcing, and more efficiently handle requests for merchandise—a major cash flow source to the club,” says Tran.

Fremantle now has access to a host of benefits that can help support the club’s growth. “Mitel enables mobile users to manage their communications from their Blackberry and other popular smartphones, something our highly mobile workers simply love,” concludes Tran. “And because Mitel easily integrates with legacy PBX systems, we’ve been able to keep deployment costs and total cost of ownership low by leveraging existing investments. At the same time, we have a modern, reliable, and highly efficient unified communications system. Mitel has helped us exceed our goal and put us ahead of the game!”

“THE VISIBILITY ACROSS THE SYSTEM PROVIDES US WITH DATA TO IMPROVE OPERATIONS PERFORMANCE. WE ARE NOW ABLE TO BETTER PLAN STAFFING FOR CRITICAL PERIODS, IDENTIFY INQUIRY AREAS THAT MAY NEED ADDITIONAL RESOURCING, AND MORE EFFICIENTLY HANDLE REQUESTS FOR MERCHANDISE—A MAJOR CASH FLOW SOURCE TO THE CLUB.”